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tetchy (TECH-ee) - adj., irritable, touchy, easily annoyed.
Is more likely to be used in British than American English, but it's not unknown in the States. This is an old one -- attested in this sense back in 1592, spelled teachie or techy in Romeo & Juliet I.iii, from Middle English teche (retained in Scots as tache) meaning defect/mark/blotch with influence of touchy, from Old French teche, from conjectured Vulgar Latin *tacca, from a Germanic source that's cognate with English token.
---L.
Is more likely to be used in British than American English, but it's not unknown in the States. This is an old one -- attested in this sense back in 1592, spelled teachie or techy in Romeo & Juliet I.iii, from Middle English teche (retained in Scots as tache) meaning defect/mark/blotch with influence of touchy, from Old French teche, from conjectured Vulgar Latin *tacca, from a Germanic source that's cognate with English token.
---L.
